Peer-to-peer (or P2P) networks are used to distribute files, such as audio, video or data files. A peer-to-peer networks primarily relies on the computer power and bandwidth of the participants (or “peers”) in the network, rather than concentrating power and bandwidth in a relatively low number of servers. For example, BIT TORRENT is a company that provides peer-to-peer network enabling technologies.
Content rights holders need a way to distribute their content. Therefore, some content rights holders are interested in the use of a peer-to-peer network for this purpose.
However, content rights holders are concerned about controlling their content in a world where perfect digital copies can be made easily and then transmitted around the world for free in seconds. Content rights holders fear that if consumers are given access to the content, piracy will flourish and market share of the content rights holders will be undermined. Therefore, content rights holders are concerned about their content being available in digital form. They may be especially concerned when the content is available on a peer-to-peer network where digital copies are easily made and distributed by peers without control by, or compensation to, the content rights holders.
Therefore, to encourage distribution of content on peer-to-peer networks, the interests of content rights holders and peers should be more closely aligned. One way to do this is to require peers that download content to pay for it, and to also compensate peers for uploading content. With this approach, uploading peers will have an economic disincentive for distributing content for free against the wishes of the content rights holders. Downloading peers will have an economic incentive to becoming an uploading peer that gets compensated to distribute the content that they previously downloaded.
PeerImpact.com is a peer-to-peer network with compensates uploading peers and requires downloading peers to pay for downloading content.
However, there is a need for further refinement of peer-to-peer networks to further align the interests of the content rights holders and the peers, and to operate the networks more efficiently.